


Eyes Like the Sky, Smile Like the Sun

by thewriterinpink



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Awkwardness, Bisexual Nancy Wheeler, Canon Lesbian Character, Denial of Feelings, F/F, First Meetings, Nervousness, Past Relationship(s), Post-Season/Series 03, Pre-Femslash, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-28 09:07:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19809160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewriterinpink/pseuds/thewriterinpink
Summary: Jonathan and Nancy break up before the Byers move away and Nancy deals with it the best she can. After deciding to find a distraction, Nancy ends up in the movie rental store, surprised to find a familiar face working there. What's even more surprising for Nancy is how she seems to respond to Robin.





	Eyes Like the Sky, Smile Like the Sun

**Author's Note:**

> I woke up a few days ago with the urge to write something about them and this is the result. Robin and Nancy are Good™ and I will prove it to you.

It’s far too nice outside for Nancy’s current mood. The sun shines down on her, the clouds are nothing over her head, the sky bluer than she swears she’s ever seen it and the air feels good in her lungs when she breaths in and out. It’s perfect which is what she _hates_ about it because she doesn’t want perfect; she wants the sky to fill with dark clouds, for it to open up into a pouring storm of despair and reflect what sticks inside of her, the emotions swelling like too many annoying balloons in her chest.

She thinks it’s unfair that she has no power over the sky. Like she can’t have a moment like Eleven and just bring havoc on her surroundings with a very powerful thought. It would be a troubling experience in normal circumstances, but here? Now? It’s what she really wants. For the world to make sense to her again.

Instead, she has to find alternatives to deal with her misery like every other person in the world. She can’t stand being at home with her parents, she doesn’t like the atmosphere or wants the questions about her sour mood, but there isn’t anywhere she has to go. She knows she needs a distraction, needs to quiet her mind for at least a moment of respite, but nothing immediately comes to mind. There’s no one she can go to either. So she’s stuck walking the streets aimlessly.

Nancy sighs and rubs her palm into her face. It shouldn’t be a surprise to her, but walking like this hasn’t stopped any of those troubling thoughts, hasn’t stopped her from acknowledging the truth of her feelings. In fact, her thoughts and emotions may have even _doubled._ It that even allowed? Walking is supposed to be calming, not debilitating.

She’s hit with sudden hopelessness, heavy in her heart as it sinks to her gut. She almost gives up right then, almost decides to wear through the awkwardness of home, when her eyes skid across the street and she notices the movie rental store. It gives her a moment of pause, a moment of thoughtful introspection on her next course of action. A movie. She can rent a movie and shut her brain off for a few hours. Her parents won’t notice anything wrong then.

It sounds like the perfect plan, something she doesn’t have to think too hard on to succeed and a strange sort of relief bubbles inside of her. She smiles weakly and heads that way, anxious to go forth with her new plan. The door jingles when she steps through; it’s a familiar sound she hasn’t heard in a long while, especially when the store had been closed down when the Starcourt Mall had been built and people stopped coming, but she welcomes it now like a sudden call to her senses. Something lifts in her when she surveys the room and takes in the VHS tapes, but then her eyes land on the woman stacking some back on the racks and her body freezes when she recognizes her.

Nancy doesn’t know her well enough to say anything about her, but Robin is a distinguishable figure after mutually battling Russians and The Mind Flayer with her. And here she is, working in a small town video store; a normal, average thing to be doing, but it still trips Nancy up. She remembers suddenly that Steve had mentioned to her that he and a friend had found a new job. That friend had been Robin, but Nancy doesn’t see Steve in the store, she doesn’t see anyone but herself and Robin. The store is quiet and still, no one at all in a rush to stay indoors with a movie when it's such a nice day. Maybe that’s why Steve or another employee isn’t here, only Robin is needed to keep the store running.

Still stuck near the door, Nancy is caught by Robin’s gaze when she looks up from what she is doing to assess the new costumer. Nancy thinks Robin won’t recognize her or have any cause to be interested in her in the slightest, but she’s wrong. Robin’s eyebrows raise, just a little, and then she smiles in a way that’s altogether friendly although reserved.

“Hey. Looking for something specific? Or are you here for Steve?”

Nancy shakes her head in an aborted fashion and swallows, wondering why her head feels full all of a sudden. She’s sure Robin is a lovely person—a person _Steve_ hangs out with, not that it’s any of her business what girls he hangs around now—and she doesn’t mean to be rude or anything, but her mouth doesn’t work around Robin for a long pause, her tongue feeling too big and useless. She has absolutely no clue what’s going on and that’s not a position she ever likes being in.

“No... No, I’m not here for Steve.” She laughs a short puff of breath—it sounds more awkward and nervous than it should be. “I was just looking... for a movie. Or a distraction. Whatever.”

Robin tilts her head and wets her bottom lip with the tip of her tongue. A shock shivers down her back at the sight and Nancy forces her gaze away, staring at a stand-up poster of a movie she can’t bother to remember the name of. She tells herself it’s far more compelling than Robin. She tells a lie.

“A distraction, huh? I guess that’s what most people come here for. What’s entertainment but a means to distract ourselves from life? With that said, got any movies in mind?”

Robin is stacking as she talks, turning her body slightly away from Nancy, her eyes on the movies in her hands. Since her face isn’t in the same view as before, Nancy can breathe again. Her eyes follow Robin’s profile though, taking in her form and body language. Something about it all keeps her attention even when she had previously told herself to look away.

Robin looks up after some time, sending her a confused look. She must have been silent for too long.

“Nancy?”

And then, all at once, as though it is ripped from her by an invisible force, the words tumble out of her mouth like a dam untimely breaking.

“Jonathan broke up with me.”

It sounds wrong even in her own voice. Like she might be dreaming the entire thing happened at all and when the shock of her words are properly heard, she’ll wake up in a cold sweat with Jonathan right beside her. But that doesn’t happen. Instead, the picture remains the same and clear, the rental store is still in view and Robin frowns at her in what is both sympathy and confusion. She drops the VHS in her hand back on the counter behind her and turns to fully regard Nancy, something Nancy doesn’t think she really wants; to have that overly blue gaze to turn intensely onto her.

“He... what? But I thought you two were pretty tight. You broke up with Steve of all people for him. I don’t know much... but I thought there was a lot of love there or something. What happened?”

Nancy shrugs. For the first time since she came into the store, she walks further in so she’s standing much closer to Robin, at a comfortable distance to be talking in. She takes in a slow breath, feeling everything all over again, but now that it’s out she wants to keep talking. Maybe telling someone who she doesn’t know that well and therefore won't judge the same might be the best option.

“It was more mutual than that, I suppose. He was moving away and I’d been getting so, I don’t know, restless. Maybe even reckless too. I’d been a mess about the whole thing. I guess my actions were pushing him away or something. He brought it up, but I could feel it coming anyway and I didn’t try to stop it. So maybe I broke up with him too.”

Robin nods slowly, that same frown still on her features. She’s very pretty, freckles covering her face and hair cropped short. Her eyes are too blue for words like the clear sky outside and Nancy likes the way her nose, lips and eyebrows stand out on her face. Everything looks so pleasing; it’s no wonder Steve might be attracted to her, Nancy admits she probably would too if she was a man.

“Well, that sucks,” Robin sums up for her. “Maybe try to stay away from romantic movies for a little while. That’ll just make it worse, I’m sure. Need any suggestions ‘cause I got plenty.”

“Well...” Nancy trails off, reaching up to push strands of hair away from her eyes. She rocks on the balls of her feet. “If you’re offering?”

Robin flashes her a smile, this time without restraint, and Nancy bites her lip as her heart quickens unexpectedly. She’s starting to feel her temperature rise and her mind fill up with overwhelming thoughts. She tries to silence every last one of them before she understands what they’re saying, but a few slip through the cracks and horrify her. For a split second she wants to run, but Nancy has never known herself to never be brave so she stays where she is as stiff as a marvel statue and _panics._

“Hmmm... wait one moment.” Robin holds up one finger and winks playfully. “I’ll see what I can scavenge up from our modest supply of distractions. Feel free to browse on your own.”

Nancy nods and forces her legs into motion. She moves to the rack closes to her and stares without actually seeing any of the box art, not a single title making sense to her faulty brain. She takes the time to assess herself and forces her shoulders to relax, for her breath to come out even and unbothered. Eventually, her eyes stop swimming in confusion and she’s able to see what’s in front of her. She, of course, frowns the moment she realizes she’s been unhelpfully standing in front of the romance section the whole time. She really needs to get it together already or else she’s going to have a proper meltdown at this point.

“Oh! Here we go. This might be something you could enjoy for a measly hour and a half. Sure, it’s a little childish, but who in their right mind would turn their nose up to something as wholesome as this. I mean, everyone loves The Muppets! Besides, we all need to say hello to our inner child every once in awhile, right?”

Nancy looks up as Robin approaches, standing on the other side of the rack. She looks from her grinning face and then the VHS held up between them. Nancy takes it from her for lack of any reason to deny it—she hasn’t exactly been in the right state of mind to pick anything out herself. Robin isn’t even wrong and Nancy already can see herself enjoying the idea. The best way to block out a failed relationship is to regress to simpler times. She can’t see the harm in watching something a little more family friendly than most.

“Thanks,” she says, holding the VHS to her chest and breathing in deeply. “You didn’t have to do that, by the way. Go out of your way to help me or even hear me out in the first place. You don’t owe me a thing.”

Robin rolls her eyes and leans forward on the VHS rack; the action sends her just a little bit closer to Nancy and Nancy pretends not to lean slightly ahead in answer.

“Ignoring the fact that I’m an employee and therefore it’s my job to help you, I also wanted to help you. You and Steve are friends, right? No reason I shouldn’t look out for someone Steve cares about.”

“Steve,” she blurts out, wincing at her awkward phrasing but soldiering on. “You and him, are you...?”

Something in Robin’s expression begins to close off and Nancy swears disappointment shadows her gaze before it’s replaced with something more neutral. Robin shakily breathes in.

“No. No, no. We’re just friends. I don’t... I don’t want something like that with him. I’m not interested.”

“Oh.” Nancy doesn’t know what else to say to that, but the relief in her gut can’t possibly be for Steve and she doesn’t want to even think why it is for Robin. “That’s fine. Being friends is fine. Steve certainly needs more of them of his own age.”

Robin cracks a smile and snorts at that. She waves Nancy over to the check-out and Nancy follows, something beginning to war inside her like a fretful stallion. A persistent thought is crossing her mind. Should she attempt to reach out and befriend Robin...? It would be nice not to be alone while watching the movie, but would Robin even want to watch some dumb kid’s movie with her? She might even seem pathetic for suggesting they hang out just because she doesn’t want to be lonely.

She goes through the motions of paying for the movie, trying to convince herself against offering what’s at the tip of her tongue. It pushes and pushes though and she breaks as Robin is handing her the plastic bag with the movie in it.

“Are you getting off soon?”

“No, not for another hour or two. Why?”

Nancy opens and closes her mouth, shakes her head slightly and tries for a casual and unbothered expression.

“Uh, no reason. I just wondered if you wanted to, like, hang out or something. You know, to watch the movie with me. Feels lame to watch it with myself. I’m afraid my parents might question my sudden interest in muppets too.” At Robin’s surprised face, Nancy quickly speaks on. “Of course, you don’t have to or anything. I was just... well, what’s one more friend, right? You’ve experienced our world now, shared the trauma with us, so I just thought...”

Robin is still staring at her. Nancy swallows and finds she has no other words to give. Only silence prevails.

Then Robin smiles, a beacon of sunlight she gladly welcomes to break away the storm clouds within her. Robin nods her head and raps her right knuckles against the counter.

“Sure. That actually sounds like a lot of fun. Beats being alone. Should I come by or...?”

Nancy thinks about her parents and her brother and how loud it can sometimes be with so many of his friends in the basement. She shakes her head.

“If you don’t mind, maybe I can swing by your place in a few hours later? Not to suddenly impose like that...”

“No, no, it’s fine.” Despite her words, there seems to be a new energy in Robin’s frame, like she’s buzzing under the skin. Her eyes flicker over Nancy sporadically. “I’ll give you my address.”

Nancy connects her gaze with Robin’s and they stick there for longer than is particularly normal for two women to be experiencing. Robin’s eyes fall away first. She’s quick to write out the address on Nancy’s receipt, nervously pulling at the strands of her hair as she does so. Nancy finds the sudden show of vulnerability endearing and somewhat calming for her own insecurity. She makes sure to smile her most brilliant of smiles when she’s handed back the paper.

“Thanks, Robin. See you soon.”

“Yeah.” Robin clears her throat and sways into the counter slightly. “See you.”

Nancy leaves the store, spirit a little bit brighter and strangely excited for later. She holds on to the feeling the whole way home.


End file.
